Klien teams up with Webber

Jaguar Racing today confirms Austrian Christian Klien as Mark Webber's team mate for the 2004 Formula One season. This is with immediate effect with Christian today joining Mark for a three-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Having never previously driven a Formula One car before, Christian was invited to test for Jaguar Racing last week at Valencia (Spain) where he demonstrated clearly his capabilities and potential over two days.

"Christian was in as much control of himself as he was the car," said David Pitchforth, Managing Director, Jaguar Racing. "He was extremely calm, composed and didn't seem remotely fazed by his first ever experience with a Formula One car. His technical feedback was excellent and there is no doubt in our minds about the potential of this exciting new young talent. He worked very well with the race engineers and demonstrated increasing speed as he became familiar with the car. Christian's professionalism and brain bandwidth are also very impressive and combined with his application, our decision to employ him as a race driver was based on merit, potential and speed."

A delighted Christian commented:

"Knowing that I am a Jaguar F1 driver has made me the happiest man on earth! I have worked tirelessly over the years to get to this point but I appreciate also that the real hard work for me starts now. I am indebted to Jaguar Racing for giving me an opportunity to prove my worth and I intend repaying Jaguar through hard work, commitment and ultimately, results on the race track. Before that, however, I have a responsibility alongside Mark Webber to support the development of the 2004 challenger and that means countless hours of testing over the winter period. This will also be a very valuable familiarisation exercise for me too as I get to know the car, the team and it's associated partners."

The following is a brief run down on Formula One’s newest rookie driver….
Date of birth: 02/02/83
Place of Birth: Hohenems, Vorarlberg, Austria
Lives: Hohenems
Family: Single
Height: 1.69m
Weight: 68kgs
Hobbies: Skiing, Inline skating, Biking, Motorsports